Eight days after the Bondi attacks, while the initial shock had begun to settle but the emotional weight remained heavy, Kiama resident Judi Sandilands arrived quietly with her therapy dog, Miss Ollie.

There was no media presence – just a deliberate choice to show up when people were still trying to process what had happened.

“Actions always speak louder than words in times like this,” Judi says. “I was never not going. It was always on my radar.”

Judi, a former clinical nurse consultant in mental health, knows how beneficial a therapy dog can be to wellbeing and had responded the same way after the Bondi Junction stabbings, working alongside Lifeline to support a community struggling with shock and grief.

Rather than arriving during the height of attention, she came later, when residents, workers, and volunteers were left carrying the impact once the cameras moved on.

“It affects the whole community,” she explains. “Not just the victims and their families, but everyone whose backyard is Bondi.”

That reality became clear almost immediately.

While buying a coffee near where she and Ollie had set up on 22 December, café staff spoke about how they had not yet had time to stop and process what had happened.

“They said, “We haven't stopped, we're just making coffee and we haven't had a chance to actually process. We're here every day, we live in this community and we can't process it.” They actually articulated it very well,” Judi recalls. 

Miss Ollie, a Guide Dogs–trained therapy dog, wore her Lifeline vest during the visit.

Judi noticed a pattern she has seen many times before.

People would stop to pat the dogs, begin talking without meaning to, and then naturally move toward Lifeline staff positioned nearby.

“The dogs act as an icebreaker,” Judi says. “They buffer people just enough so mental health professionals can step in.”

Inside Bondi Junction Westfield, Judi and Ollie sat on the floor while parents spoke with mental health providers and their children quietly patted the dogs beside them.

“You could actually see people calming down,” she says. “Lowering their anxiety enough to find the words they were struggling to say.”

Judi describes therapy dogs as providing emotional first aid – a kind of support that no human interaction can quite replicate.

While research shows dogs can lower blood pressure and reduce stress hormones, Judi says the impact is most powerful when witnessed firsthand.

“You see it happening in real time,” she says.

On that first visit, Judi was joined by another South Coast resident and friend– who has asked to remain anonymous– along with his Bernese Mountain Dog, Jasper.

Although Jasper is not formally trained as a therapy dog, he instinctively did what was needed.

“Who doesn’t want to cuddle a Bernese Mountain Dog?” Judi says. “People were so appreciative.”

First time therapy-dog Jasper brought smiles to Bondi

In the days and weeks that followed, Judi received messages from Bondi residents about what the visits had meant to them.

Many also asked about the crocheted Matilda bees that had been shared with children and families.

The bees were handmade and sent by volunteers from Jamberoo Red Cross, along with local resident Sue Mawbey, as a gesture of remembrance and support.

The bees carry deep symbolism. Matilda, the young girl killed in the attack, had been named after Australia itself.

The bees — drawn from the Matildas emblem — became a quiet representation of unity, resilience, and national identity during a time of collective grief.

Crocheted bees have been shared and are in high demand to spread unity and resilience

People from interstate and overseas told Judi they were taking the bees home to share Bondi’s story and what the community had endured.

 “I think that's what Matilda's mother wanted to happen for the bees,” Sandilands said,

Judi later received a phone call from Matilda’s mother, who had tracked her down to personally thank her for bringing the dogs to Bondi.

Bees have become a quiet symbol to represent and honour Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi shooting

The two now have each other’s phone numbers.

 During their conversation, Matilda’s mother shared that her daughter had been a dog lover, something Judi had not known at the time, and expressed how much it meant to see comfort being brought to the community in this way, sharing a photo of Matilda in a T-shirt with many dogs breeds on it saying ‘it's just a girl and her dogs’.

At the request of the Bondi community, Judi returned on 7 January, this time with additional dogs and handlers.

Joining Ollie and Jasper were Shiko, Lennon, and Tyler — all involved in Guide Dogs programs, including court companion roles.

With extreme heat on the day, the group set up a shaded gazebo with assistance from police to ensure the dogs’ welfare remained the top priority.

Once people understood why the dogs were there, they came.

Lifeline volunteers again positioned themselves nearby, and the dogs once more created a gentle pathway for people to seek support.

Based in Kiama, Judi regularly travels to support schools, courts, ambulance call centres, police, and youth services.

She and her dogs work quietly and without funding, motivated by a belief that presence matters.

In 2025, her contribution was recognised with her and Ollie being named community champions by the NSW Mental Health Commission. 

For Judi, the work is not about recognition. It is about responding when something is needed and continuing to show up.

“It gives people just that little bit of hope,” she says. “And in that moment, that’s enough.”

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